—Petra & Petrus!DO 19463/85

JESUS IS OUR FOUNDATION!

1. WHAT DOES THE WORD PETRA MEAN? (FAM: ROCK.) It's a Greek word for rock. We have a famous hero in the Bible that has a name similar to Petra—Peter! That's his nickname. Jesus said, "Thou art called Peter" (Mat.16:18), & Catholics use this Verse all the time, they even base their whole church on this Scripture! "Thou art called Peter‚ & upon this Rock I will build My Church!"—And the whole Catholic Church has misinterpreted that Scripture to think it meant that Peter was the Rock on which He was going to build His Church. But I've studied the Greek, & do you know what the Greek actually says? There are two words for a rock in the Greek language.

2. "PETRA" MEANS A GREAT BIG SOLID IMMOVEABLE ROCK LIKE JESUS & THE WORD! JESUS IS THE ROCK! (Sings:)

"Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,

A weary land, a weary land!

Yes‚ Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,

A Shelter in the time of storm!"

Jesus is our Rock! The Lord says many places that the Church is built on the Rock, Jesus is the Foundation, & there's no other Foundation!—Not Peter, nobody else, but Jesus is the Foundation, the Rock on which He builds His Church. And yet the Catholics say, "See‚ He said right there, 'Thou art called Peter‚ & upon this Rock will I build My Church.'" But do you know what it says in the Greek?—"Thou art called Petrus, & upon this Petra, I will build My Church."

3. PETRA IS JESUS, THE BIG SOLID ROCK‚ BUT PETRUS IS A LITTLE TINY ROLLING STONE like you see rolling along on the bottom of rivers with the current, just whichever way the current's going, little rocks rolling along, a rolling stone. See, they had rolling stones even before the modern musical group called the Rolling Stones!—Musicians who wandered all over, rolled all over the U.S. & Europe & everywhere singing!

4. SO PETRUS IN GREEK IS A LITTLE ROLLING STONE CARRIED ALONG WITH THE CURRENT, whichever way the current went, whichever way the wind blew. Isn't that like Peter was before he got the baptism of the Holy Spirit? He couldn't stand any persecution, he couldn't stand being embarrassed & being called the disciple of Jesus, he denied the Lord three times while the Lord was under arrest! He was blown about by every little wind of persecution & accusation, etc., unstable, meaning a very unstable rolling rock.

5. FIRST OF ALL JESUS SAID‚ "WHO DO MEN SAY THAT I AM?" (Mat.16:15) They said, "Some say You're John the Baptist come back from the dead"—because John had been killed—"& some say You're Elijah who is for to come, some say You're a Prophet." And God bless bold Peter!—In all of his rolling around‚ sometimes he got it right! Sometimes even a rolling stone can hit the spot. Then Jesus asked the disciples, "But whom say ye that I am?" And what did Peter say?—Bold, impetuous, impulsive, great big Peter, big fisherman, he wasn't afraid of anybody supposedly!—Except a little tiny maid when Jesus was under arrest, he was afraid of everybody then!

6. I'M NOT GOING TO STOP & EXPLAIN WHAT IMPULSIVE & IMPETUOUS MEAN, but you can get the picture, okay?—Because I'd never get done if I explained every word. That's why it's so hard to teach the children, because I know too many big words. It would be better if I were a little child like you! David's going to be a better teacher for you than me, because he doesn't know so many big words. He knows a lot of big words, but not as many as I do, & they get in my way.

7. BUT ANYWAY, PETER SAID, "THOU ART THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD!"—"Thou art the Christ"—that means the Messiah—"the Son of God!" Was that right? Was that a good statement? Was that the right answer? (Fam: Yes!) For once Peter got it right, once in awhile he hit it right. What was the answer again? (Fam: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God!") Hallelujah!—Not the dead God, but the live God! Give us the reference! (Fam: Matthew 16:16) You need to know where that is, right? Somebody that's got it, read it! (Fam: "And Simon Peter answered & said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.") I was right, it's the Living God! I may not know where they are, but I can sure quote'm! TTL!

8. THE MAIN THING IS TO KNOW WHAT IT IS, EVEN IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE IT IS! I'll tell you where every one of them is, right there! (Points at heart) You hear me quoting it a lot. I might not always know where it's at in here, in the Bible, but I can give you a general idea. I don't always know the exact address, but I can at least tell you what city it's in, sometimes I can even get the neighbourhood.—And once in awhile I can even tell you what block it's in & even the street! But I don't always remember the house numbers, the exact address of the Verse.

9. "THOU ART THE CHRIST‚ THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD!"—WHAT A CONFESSION OF FAITH! This is called Peter's great confession of faith! What did that make Peter? (Fam: A believer!)—A believer!—And he was also a receiver! He was receiving Christ right then. He believed & received Christ. He hadn't yet received the fullness of the Holy Spirit because Jesus had to go away for that to happen, he didn't have the power of the Spirit yet. Jesus said, "I needs must go away so I can send the Comforter to you." (Jn.16:7) The Spirit was called both a Power & also a Comfort. We have Her to both give us power & to comfort us like a Mother. Isn't that what a Mother does?—She comforts her children, she teaches them & trains them to give them power to live in this life.

10. SO PETER WAS CONFESSING HIS FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, HE WAS TELLING IT ALL, THAT JESUS WAS THE MESSIAH! That's literally what he was saying, "Thou art the Messiah!" Christ is the Greek word, Cristos, Messiah is the Hebrew word. "Thou art the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!" What more could he say than that? Wasn't that a marvellous confession of faith?

11. AND WHAT DID JESUS ANSWER BACK? (Fam: "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar–jona.") That was his original name. They gave them new names in the Early Christian Church just like we do! Until that time he was always called Simon, but now you can see how he got his name Peter. (Fam: "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh & blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in Heaven.")—In other words, "You have struck a great Truth, a great secret, a tremendous Truth!"

12. ISN'T THAT WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR? ISN'T THAT WHAT WE PREACH? Isn't that what we're supposed to do?—Tell everybody this? Isn't that the Gospel?—That Jesus is the Christ‚ the Messiah, the Son of the Living God! Isn't that our Message? That's what the whole Church is built on, His Church & all His people! His whole Kingdom is built on that one great Truth! And Jesus is what part of the Church? (Fam: The Foundation.) And the most important part of the Foundation is the Cornerstone, the Chief Cornerstone.—The Foundation‚ Jesus! (Psa.118:22; Mt.21:42; Eph.2:20; 1Pet.2:6)

13. HE WAS CONFESSING THAT JESUS WAS THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD‚ & you're going to see in a moment what Jesus called this confession, this great Truth. Read it! (Fam: "And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter.")—And here in the Greek He says‚ "Thou art Petrus", a rolling stone. "Right now, Peter, you're fickle, you're undependable, you can't be relied upon." But what does He say? (Fam: "And upon this Rock I will build My Church.") Now this is where the problem comes. I don't doubt that it may have been translated that way to please even the Church of England, but whether you say "and" there or "but", the thing is really the same. It would make a little more sense if they'd have put "but" there.

14. "THOU, PETER, ART A ROLLING STONE‚ fickle, independent, rolling along with the tide & the current, but upon this Rock, Petra, I will build My Church!" What Rock was Jesus talking about then? (David: A big strong rock.)—Right, & what was the rock? (David: Jesus.)—Jesus! Isn't that what Peter had just said? "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" And Jesus said‚ "You didn't get this out of your own head, God My Father revealed it to you! Because upon this Rock, this great Truth, this Person that He was speaking of, this Messiah, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God, upon this Rock I am going to build My Church!" Do you get it?

15. SO WHAT JESUS REALLY SAID TO PETER WAS, "PETER, YOU'RE NOT STABLE, YOU'RE NOT DEPENDABLE, I CAN'T BUILD MY CHURCH ON YOU, YOU'RE PETRUS, A ROLLING STONE!" You can look it up in the Greek Testament & I can prove it to you. God knows where my Greek Testament is now, but I have read it. Greek is a beautiful language. He said, "Peter, you're just a rolling stone, but upon this Rock of what you just said & what you just acknowledged, that I am the Christ, the Son of the Living God, upon this Rock, upon Me, in other words, I am going to build My Church!" Do you get it? No other Foundation, no other Rock could hold the Church of Jesus Christ!

16. WHAT A DIFFERENCE THAT MAKES FROM THE CATHOLIC INTERPRETATION! The Catholic interpretation is from the Latin & does not follow the Greek at all. Because the New Testament was written originally in Greek, not in Latin, & the Greek actually says, "Peter, thou art a rolling stone, but on what you just said, the great Truth that you just proclaimed, that I am the Messiah, the Son of God, on this Rock, on Me, I am going to build My Church!" What a difference! It makes the Catholics look pretty sick then, doesn't it?—Claiming that Jesus said that He was going to build His Church on Peter!

17. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN ABOUT THE MOST UNRELIABLE FOUNDATION HE COULD POSSIBLY HAVE PICKED! Peter was always blundering & making mistakes. He was big & strong & impulsive, impetuous! Impetuous means he'd make sudden decisions, impulsive means he'd jump before he looked. He was always opening his mouth & sticking his foot in it, wasn't he? But this is one time Peter got it right, but it was the Catholics that turned it around because they wanted to claim that Peter was the founder of the Church.

GRACE vs. WORKS—PAUL vs. PETER!

18. THAT INTERPRETATION BEGAN EVEN BEFORE THE NEW TESTAMENT DAYS WERE OVER.—AND DO YOU KNOW WHY? There was a great division in the Early Church. If the Devil couldn't stop them any other way, he divided & tried to conquer them. What was the greatest split that they ever had? (Fam: That the Gentiles had to be circumcised?) That was one of the symptoms of the division, that's right, whether the Gentiles would have to not just be circumcised, but whether they had to obey the Mosaic Law, the Law of Moses, the Ten Commandments. Here came the biggest split of the Church!

19. WHO WAS THE GREATEST ADVOCATE, BESIDES JESUS, THAT THE LAW IS FINISHED‚ IT'S DONE, IT'S FULFILLED‚ that we no longer have to follow the Law, we no longer have to be circumcised, we no longer have to follow all these little shibboleths & little rules & regulations of Moses etc.? (Fam: Paul.)—Right! Saint Paul was the greatest advocate of what we call Grace, the opposition to the Law.—Grace‚ mercy, & what word do we like to use today? (Fam: Love.)—Love!—As opposed to Law.

20. SAINT PAUL WAS AN ADVOCATE OF LOVE & GRACE & THE MERCY OF GOD‚ that you couldn't earn Salvation by keeping the Law, keeping the books‚ keeping the regulations & all that, nobody could!—In fact, Jesus & Paul both said that nobody could keep the Law! Nobody could be saved that way because nobody could keep it! God just showed through the Law of Moses how strict God could be & what they would have to do if they could be perfect & save themselves. All the Law did was be our school teacher to prove to us that we couldn't be perfect‚ we couldn't keep the Law & we couldn't save ourselves! (Gal.3:24) That whole period under the Mosaic Law was just to show the Jews they could not save themselves! But instead they took it & misinterpreted it & screwed it around to say that, "God's showing you how to save yourself, you've got to save yourself by keeping the Law!"

21. BUT PAUL ADVOCATED GRACE! What are the two most famous Verses on that subject that almost everybody should know? (Fam: "For by grace are ye saved through faith, & that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.") Hallelujah! You guys all know that! And what is the street address of that one? (Fam: Eph.2:8,9) Very good! You know it!

22. PAUL WAS A GREAT RABBI TO BEGIN WITH, A GREAT TEACHER, A MEMBER OF THE JEWISH CHURCH! He went around killing Christians, trying to make them obey the Law & telling them they were rebels‚ revolutionaries, insurrectionists! Today they'd call them terrorists or something. Of course, they weren't using any violence, but they even say that about us. … That's the way they lied about us in Indonesia, they said we were Communist guerrillas, etc. Just saying we were a screwy religion didn't have much effect on the government or on the people, they saw that tack didn't work.—Just like the scribes & Pharisees did with Jesus.

23. PILATE DIDN'T CARE IF JESUS WAS BREAKING RELIGIOUS LAWS, THAT MEANT NOTHING TO THE ROMANS. But when they started saying, "He's a rebel, He's an insurrectionist, He's a Zealot, He's trying to overthrow the Roman government, He's a traitor to Caesar!"—Then Pilate began to say, "Well, let's see the Man, let's have Him in & question Him. If He's preaching betrayal, if He's preaching insurrection‚ if He's preaching revolution & rebellion against the Roman government, that is a serious charge. That's a legal charge, that's a breaking of the Roman law!"—Otherwise He was just accused of breaking Jewish law by claiming to be the Son of God. They said, "That's blasphemy, that's breaking Jewish law!" Under the Romans it wasn't a crime to have some little religious difference with the Jews, but it was a crime to have a serious political difference with the Emperor or the Romans!

24. SO I WAS TELLING YOU ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GRACE & LAW. Jesus Himself said He had fulfilled the Law, the old Mosaic Law therefore was ended, it was over. Now God's only Law is Love!—"Love the Lord thy God & thy neighbour as thyself." He said, "In this is all the Law & all the Prophets!"—The whole works! (Mat.22:37-40)

25. DID PETER & PAUL HAVE A DIFFERENCE OVER THIS?—They had a public falling out before the whole Church & the disciples! The Church was split now. There were those who believed like Paul, that all you had to do was believe in Jesus, receive Jesus as your Saviour & you were saved. Whether you were Jew or Gentile, bond or free, black or white, male or female, it didn't make a bit of difference as long as you took Jesus! Isn't that what we believe? We're all one in Christ Jesus just as long as we receive Jesus!

26. BUT PETER, THE ROLLING STONE, THE ROLLING UNSTABLE ROCK, PROVED HIS INSTABILITY ONCE AGAIN when he started hobnobbing with certain pious Jewish brethren who said, "To be saved, yes, you must believe in Jesus, but you must keep the Jewish Law!" (Family laughs!) What's so funny about that? (Children: Your face!) Oh, my face is funny! I just do that naturally, I don't even know what I'm doing! I'm just acting & feeling like one of those pious, hypocritical, self-righteous people, & when you feel that way you get this kind of an expression on your face, like when they talk about us! That's the expression of self-righteous hypocrisy, holier-than-thou‚ "I'm holier than you are!"—When they lie lie lie lie lie like that about us!

27. SO ONCE AGAIN TO ESCAPE PERSECUTION‚ TO ESCAPE REPROACH, TO ESCAPE EMBARRASSMENT, PETER FLOWED WITH THE CURRENT‚ THE TIDE OF THE LEGALISTS! They were called the Concision, which means "with the cut‚" & the other name was the Circumcision. They believed that all the new disciples had to get circumcised & had to become good Jews. Paul said, "This is ridiculous, this is malarkey, it's not so! They don't have to do anything! They don't have to keep any Jewish Law or any Mosaic Law at all, much less circumcision! You're saved by grace, just by Jesus‚ just by faith!"

28. BUT PETER, POOR PETER, PETRUS THE ROLLING STONE, ALONG CAME THE WIND & BLEW HIM THE OTHER WAY! He got in with some of those hypocritical, self–righteous, holier–than-thou Jewish Christians. I know from experience & I can tell you, you will never find a prouder Christian & one who vaunts his Jewishness more than a Jewish Christian, & who promotes Israel & the return of the Jews to Israel. "Well, you're just a Christian, but I am a Jewish Christian!"—In other words, implying he has double right to be saved! He not only is saved by Jesus, by grace through faith, but he's saved by being a Jew as well! That's the impression they give you, that they're more of a Christian than you are!

29. I RAN INTO A LOT OF THOSE PEOPLE WHEN I WAS TEACHING ON MIAMI BEACH, I even had some of them chasing me around telling me I was all wrong to tell these Jews that they didn't have to keep the Law any more & all they needed was Jesus. They'd say, "Well they're still Jews, you know, & if they want to keep the Law & do these little things‚ don't bother them about that." I said, "Listen, how are you going to teach'm Grace if you don't teach'm they don't need the Law any more? How are you going to make good Christians out of them?" Those Jewish Christians were just as bad today as they were then, just like the church!

30. WHAT IS THE MAIN SLOGAN OF THE CHURCH WHEREBY YOU MUST BE SAVED?—"GO TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY!" That's the keeping of a law, that's the new Law of Moses, only it's not Moses' Law, that's the new church law! That's even more recent & more popular & more modern than the laws of the Concision & the Circumcision! That's the new law of the Gentile church, that you must go to church on Sunday. If you don't go to church on Sunday you're not a Christian, you won't be saved. Isn't that about what the Catholics preach too?—You've got to go to Mass to be saved!

31. THEY HAVE A SIGN RIGHT OVER THE GATE OF THIS BEAUTIFUL CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL IN WASHINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA*, THAT SAYS IN ENGLISH, "THIS IS THE VERY GATE OF HEAVEN!" What did Jesus say the gate was? He said, "I am the Door! I am the Way!"—Not the church gate, not the church door, not the church entrance. You don't have to go through the church at all, you don't have to go near a church the rest of your life & you're still saved! (Jn.10:9; 14:6) [*A city of southwest Pennsylvania southwest of Pittsburgh.]

32. SO ALONG CAME THE CONCISION & THE CIRCUMCISION & THESE LEGALISTS, these former Jewish friends that Peter knew who had now almost reluctantly received Jesus as the Messiah. They couldn't help but believe He had to be the Messiah, He'd fulfilled so many prophecies‚ but they said, "You must keep the Law!" So Peter the rolling stone went along with'm. "You've gotta still be a Jew, you've gotta still keep the Law, you've gotta still keep the rules, you've gotta still come to Temple, you've gotta still sacrifice‚ you've gotta still come keep the Sabbath!"

33. THERE WAS JUST NO END TO THE LAWS THEY HAD TO KEEP! The Old Testament is full of them, books that most Christians never even read. They get so monotonous & so complicated you can't even understand them, the whole books of Leviticus, Deuteronomy & also Exodus. Deuteronomy means just a repetition of what they already said, they went over & over it.

34. BUT WHAT HAPPENED?—JESUS CAME ALONG & SWEPT THE WHOLE THING AWAY! HE SAID‚ "IT'S ALL DONE, FINISHED, FULFILLED, NO MORE! You not only don't need the Law any more, you don't need all these rules any more & all these ceremonies & all these sacrifices, you don't even need the Temple any more!" That was blasphemy to the Jews! In other words, He was telling them, "We don't even need your religion any more!" He might as well have said to them, "We can do without you Jews!"—And that's about what Paul told them! He got so fed up with the Jews he finally said‚ "From henceforth I go to the Gentiles, because they believe & receive the Word gladly & with great joy! (Acts 18:6) They don't have to become Jews‚ they don't have to change their religion & keep all these crazy laws & everything‚ they can just be saved by saying, 'I take Jesus!'" PTL?

35. BUT WHEN THE CHURCHY SCRIBES & PHARISEES CAME ALONG & STARTED HECKLING PETER & accusing him of breaking the Law & of not being a Jew & being a traitor to his people, poor Peter, he just couldn't take it, he went over to their side. Isn't that sad?—And you never hear very much about Peter after that, do you? How many of you saw that movie about "Peter & Paul"? That really brought that out beautifully. Robert Foxworth played Peter‚ & he was a powerful Peter! I think the guy who played the part of Paul was not powerful enough, Anthony Hopkins. But it beautifully showed the difference between Peter & Paul, why Peter faded out of the picture & Paul became the great leader of the Church.

36. SO IF THEY'RE GOING TO SAY THE CHURCH WAS BUILT ON ANYBODY BESIDES JESUS, THE TRUE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST, THE EARLY CHURCH WAS BUILT ON PAUL!—Because he was the greatest leader of the Early Church, not Peter. Peter fluked out! Peter rolled away!—The rolling stone. Peter had once confessed that great Truth, & Jesus said, "Upon that Rock I'm going to build My Church, the fact that I am Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God! I'm the Rock! This is where I'm going to build the Church!"—Not on Peter, for God's sake!—But in the long run Peter fluked out & rolled away! Isn't that sad? (See Mat.16:20–23.)

37. HE LOST HIS CROWN & REWARD & A LOT OF WHAT HE MIGHT HAVE HAD BECAUSE HE COMPROMISED WITH THE OPPOSITION, he tried to please too many people. He started out well & several times he said the right thing, even before he got baptised with the Spirit. In the early days of the Church he was the leader, because Paul wasn't even converted yet. God mightily used him & empowered him by the Spirit & he won thousands of souls to Christ! He miraculously healed people! He was the leader of the Church & filled with the Spirit!—Until he did what? (Fam: Compromised.)

38. LET'S PUT IT THIS WAY, HE WAS THE LEADER OF THE REBELS, THE REVOLUTIONARIES, THE NEW CHURCH, & he got along great & the Church got along great until he began to compromise with the Old Church, until he began to conform & listen to them & obey them instead of Jesus! Even in arguments that Paul had openly in which he rebuked him before all, he refused to stand with Paul. Paul said he was to be condemned, he was to be accused. It was right that Paul stood up & accused Peter of being a compromiser, compromising with the Concision. But apparently Peter never got out of that, he couldn't stand a complete break with the old Jewish brethren. He couldn't stand to not compromise with people & roll whichever way the major current was rolling. At that time it looked like the Concision, the Circumcision, was going to win, because there were so many Jews! (Gal.2:11-21)

39. THINK OF WHAT COURAGE PAUL HAD TO STAND UP AGAINST THE TIDE, against the current, & proclaim Salvation through Jesus Christ alone by grace, "By faith through grace!"—I mean, "By grace through faith!" I always get those mixed up! Well anyway, you've gotta have both, grace & faith!—Amen? "By grace through faith." We're saved by grace, & how do you get the grace?—Through faith!

40. SO PAUL PREACHED THE RIGHT MESSAGE, & eventually, because he didn't just preach to the Jews, he went to the Gentiles, & thousands & thousands were converted to the church!—Gentiles whom the Jews wouldn't even receive, it was against the law to even touch one, or then you were unclean! They were called dogs & pigs & swine, & they probably were! They ate unclean foods & did unclean things & were wicked & bad, the Romans & the Gentiles. But when they got saved, they just accepted Jesus & His Love & that changed the whole picture. All they needed was Jesus, & Jesus is Love! But poor Peter, he never could get completely out of the bondage of the old Law. So the split began right back there, way back then, between those who say you've got to keep certain rules & regulations & go to church or you're not saved, & those who said you didn't!

MODERN-DAY LEGALISTS—THE CHURCHES!

41. WHICH SIDE OF THE FENCE DO YOU THINK THE CHURCHES OF TODAY ARE ON—DO THEY FOLLOW PETER OR PAUL? (Fam: Peter.)—Peter! "Go to church on Sunday, you've gotta keep the rules, you've gotta keep the Law!" They still even teach the Ten Commandments. I had to learn the Ten Commandments when I was a little kid in Sunday School, because they said that was the Law & you had to do all those things. There were a lot of do's & a lot of don'ts‚ mostly don'ts!

42. … When [the Jews] saw the Gentiles were going to follow God in such great numbers, they decided they'd have to do something about it & they'd have to channel them in the right direction—"Now you folks are doing a lot of good things, you're good people, but you've got a few misconceived ideas & you're following that false prophet Paul & you're doing wrong, bad, dirty things. You must come our way & do things our way & go to church & that's what makes you a true Christian, that's what will save you!—Not just believing in Jesus, that's not enough, you've gotta go to church on Sunday, you've gotta keep the rules!"

43. SO … THE GENTILES [WERE] ASTRAY into a false doctrine of having to keep the rules & the Law, & that group of Gentiles became what is known today as the Roman Catholic Church!—Who actually persecuted the followers of Paul, the Grace people. The Law people have been persecuting the Grace people ever since the Beginning‚ ever since Cain slew Abel! Law is the Devil's own doctrine, Grace is God's doctrine!

44. SO DO YOU SEE HOW THE CATHOLIC CHURCH GOT STARTED?—And do you see why they want to proclaim Peter as their foundation?—Because Peter was their foundation! Let'm have him! Let'm claim to be founded on Peter‚ that he's their rock.—That's why they roll so much! They have changed doctrines so many times it's pitiful! The Roman Catholics change doctrines in every Council. Don't ever say the Pope is infallible & the Catholic Church never changes, the Catholic Church has done nothing but change! It has changed & changed & changed from Council to Council! They've added new doctrines & done away with old doctrines. You say, "Well, we change too, Dad." Yes‚ we change too, but not in any basic doctrine.

45. OUR BASIC DOCTRINE IS ALL FULFILLED IN THE WORD, & PARTICULARLY THE WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST & THE WORDS OF PAUL. We'll take a little of Peter as far as he goes, we can't even always accept Paul. Why can't we always trust everything Paul said or everything Peter said? I'm not saying the Bible isn't true‚ but once in awhile they got a little off on one track this way or that way. You say, "Dad‚ don't you do that too? Don't you get off on one track & sometimes you never come back?" Well, I have never gotten off of one track, let me tell you‚ & that is Jesus Christ!—And in that I am like Paul, not Peter. I am like the genuine Early Christians, the Gentile Early Christians, as well as the true Jewish Early Christians. I am on one track & I've got a one-track mind & a one-Rock Foundation, & that is Jesus!—Amen? PTL!

46. I DON'T KNOW HOW I GOT ONTO THIS PARTICULAR TRACK TONIGHT, BUT I GOT ONTO JESUS A LONG TIME AGO! You knew about Grace & Law before, what did you learn tonight that you didn't realise before? (Fam: About Petrus & Petra.) I have said that in some of the old Letters, but I guess that was before you came along, & who reads the old Letters? Maybe you were such a babe then in those days you didn't quite understand what I was talking about! But I probably did bring it out clearer tonight than I ever did before.

47. PETER WAS UNRELIABLE, HE WAS A ROLLING STONE, HE WAS A "PETRUS." But the Lord said to him, "On this Rock, what you just said about Me, on Me‚ the Rock, the Foundation, I'm going to build My Church, what you just confessed!—On the Petra!" The Rock Christ Jesus is what we're building our church on! "For no other Foundation can any man lay than this, than the Man Christ Jesus!" (1Cor.3:11)

48. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS NOT GOING TO SAVE YOU! All those idols & images aren't going to save you, all those sweet talks from the pulpit aren't going to save you, going to church on Sunday & being faithful to Mass & packing it out every Sunday isn't going to save anybody!—Not unless somebody in their simple little faith believes that all it takes is Jesus to save them. And if they really believed that with their whole heart, they wouldn't even go to the church! If they knew that all they needed was Jesus & they didn't have to go to church to be saved, why would they be there? I doubt if there are very many truly saved, born-again Christians in those buildings on Sunday! I wonder sometimes if there are even any who really are trusting Jesus alone for their Salvation, & not saying, "Yes, I believe Jesus saves me, but I've also got to go to church, I've also got to go to Mass." Isn't that what the Catholic Church teaches you?

49. SO THEY ABSOLUTELY NULLIFY & MAKE OF NO AVAIL THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE BY THEIR LEGALISM, BY THEIR LAW.—Right? How does that verse go? "By your traditions ye do make the Law of God of none effect!" (Mat.15:6) What is the Law of God?—He might as well have said the Love of God! The Jewish religion was full of traditions that weren't even in the Scriptures! The Catholic religion is full of traditions of the church that aren't even in the Scriptures, they can't find a leg of Bible Verse to stand on! Isn't that sad?

50. —JUST LIKE THE JEWS & THEIR MOSAIC LAW, THEIR LEGALISM & THEIR RULES, THEIR DO'S & DON'TS. They may be good do's & don'ts, they may be a good idea in some ways, a lot of the Mosaic Law is basically just & fundamental & according to good rules of behaviour, etc., but it won't save you! Only Jesus can save you!—And Jesus is all you need to save you! You don't need to keep all those laws!—For the plain & simple reason that if you have Love, if you have Jesus in your heart, you will do better than to keep all those laws, you will love everybody!

51. THE LAW OF MOSES SAID, "AN EYE FOR AN EYE, A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH!"—In other words‚ if somebody knocks your tooth out, you're allowed to knock theirs out! If somebody knocks your eye out, you're allowed to knock theirs out! Is that love? Is that forgiveness? But Jesus turned around & said, "But I say unto you, love your enemies, do good to them‚" etc. (Mat.5:38-44) That's a harder law to keep. If your enemy knocks your eye or tooth out‚ it's easy to want to knock his out‚ right? That's the way you feel about it. Isn't it a lot harder to forgive him?—Well, not if you have Jesus in your heart & you have love. You can forgive him.—Amen? PTL! Actually, Jesus' Law is higher‚ but it's easier to keep, because if you have Jesus & His Holy Spirit‚ you have Love in your heart—it's not you, it's no effort, the Lord does it all!—PTL? Amen? TYJ!

52. WELL, THAT'S MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR TODAY, I KEPT YOU TOO LONG ALREADY. Those are my famous last words—it's too late, it's too long & I'm sorry! Well, I'm not sorry, you learned something tonight‚ the difference between the Petra & the little petrus, the rolling rock. (Techi, of Bible foto: Here it says the cedars of Lebanon.) Yes, Lebanon's a country over there & they've got these beautiful big cedar trees. See'm? Aren't they beautiful? Isn't that a shame that they didn't have enough of Jesus?

THE FRUITS OF LEGALISM—MURDER!

53. NOW THERE'S AN EXAMPLE OF PEOPLE THAT ARE EXTREMELY CHURCHY, SO CHURCHY THEY WANT TO KILL EVERYBODY THAT'S NOT A MEMBER OF THEIR CHURCH! That's your extreme legalism, churchianity! That's where churchianity gets you! That's where so-called formal Christianity, Christendom, & churchianity gets you‚ to where you want to kill the members of other churches & kill the members of other religions! Lebanon is absolutely torn to pieces, killing each other every day, bombing each other, tearing each other's flesh like dogs & ravenous beasts fighting each other!—And yet they claim to be Christians!

54. THE [AC] NEWSPAPERS LOVE TO USE THAT TERM: "THE CHRISTIANS SHOT SO MANY PEOPLE TODAY, the Christians dropped so many bombs today, the Christians blew up this today & that today, the Christians are fighting today!" They love to rub it in how the so-called "Christians" behave!—And you can't much blame them! That's the way the so-called Christians are behaving & how horrible they're being!—Killing each other, fighting each other!—Killing not only each other, but killing Muslims & other people. Isn't that horrible?

55. BY FOLLOWING THE LAW, THAT'S WHERE IT GOT'M! By following the church, that's where it has gotten them. Those so-called Christians of Lebanon are mostly Catholics, nearly all Catholics, of both the Roman Catholic Church & the Maronite Catholic Church. Well, it's a long story how that got to be, I'm not going to stop & explain it now, but they're Catholics, they're legalists, churchy people who are so fond of their church & so loyal to their church & so zealous for their church they're willing to kill everybody who's not a member of their church!—And that's what they're in the process of doing in Lebanon, isn't that sad?

56. THAT'S WHAT LEGALISM LEADS TO! There are Christian people who would like to kill us today if they could get away with it! When we were at that big Garden Grove church that time & when those members were coming out, little Sir Robert came up to one great big bruiser & said, "I love you, Brother!—Do you have Jesus?" He said, "Get out of my way‚ you little shrimp, or I'm going to kill you!"—And he looked like it, he meant it! He wanted to kill Sir Robert! That's the kind of Christianity legalism leads to! The people who want you to keep the Laws of Moses, the Laws of the Church, that's the kind of Christianity it leads to.

57. I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE LAWS OF THE LAND, THOSE YOU HAVE TO KEEP OR OTHERWISE YOU'RE A CRIMINAL. You have to try your best to keep them. Of course, they've got so many laws now you can hardly keep them all. Every time an American turns around he's probably breaking some law, because they've got too many laws & too many lawmakers who spend all their time making laws. They've got two whole great big bodies of lawmakers that spend all their time just making new laws, think of that, full time‚ paid big high salaries to make new laws all the time. And if they didn't make new laws all the time that people don't even know what they are & that are so complicated they can't even keep'm, they wouldn't get their salaries, because that's what they're paid for.—Isn't that sad?—And that's the way the churches got, that's the way people have gotten, that's the way Christians have gotten.

WE'RE NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANS!

58. THANK GOD WE'RE FREE! WE DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ANY OF THAT! (Sings: )

"Hallelujah‚ I am free!

Jesus gives me liberty! Glory,

Glory, hallelujah,

He is mine & I am His!"

PTL? How does that begin? Well, I'll just say liberty!

"Liberty‚ yes‚ liberty‚

Hallelujah, I am free!

Jesus gives me liberty!

Glory, glory, hallelujah,

He is mine & I am His!"

PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ!

59. AMEN, LORD, BLESS THY WORD! May it sink into these hearts & may they be convicted by it & realise that You're the only Way, the only Door, the only method of Salvation‚ the Way, the Truth & the Life! TYJ! Thank You we have You, Lord, to save us, because none of us could ever be good enough! But with You, Jesus, we could be just as good as we need to be & enjoy so much more than these people who are under the hard, iron-fast Law!

60. THANK YOU JESUS FOR THIS FREEDOM & THIS LIBERTY TO SIT HERE TONIGHT WITH THY WORD & TEACH THE TRUTH!—To sit here tonight & enjoy freedom, Lord—at least here in our house amongst ourselves—contrary to all the laws of the Jews & the churches & the Law.—Not the laws of the country, Lord, not the legal laws to not commit crimes, but these silly rules of churches & religions. Thank You, Lord, that we found those don't save us, only You, Jesus, can save us! As we pray the Prayer You taught us to pray: (Prays the Lord's Prayer) And I hope you're going to go to bed now & lay you down & go to sleep‚ so shall we pray our little bedtime prayer? "Now I lay me down to sleep‚ I know Thee Lord my soul will keep. If I should die before I wake, I know Thee Lord my soul will take!"—To Heaven!

61. IF YOU'RE REALLY SAVED & HAVE SALVATION YOU KNOW IT'S GOING TO BE THAT WAY, YOU KNOW HE'S GOING TO TAKE YOUR SOUL! If you're not sure & you're still praying He'll maybe take your soul when you die, then you're still under the Law & the rules of the churches. But if you know you're going to be saved no matter what, no matter what you do, then you're a Grace Christian. Praise God?

62. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ASKED THE MISSIONARIES WHEN THEY FIRST GOT TO JAPAN? They said, "Are you Old Testament Christians or New Testament Christians?"—In other words, "Are you like the Catholics & the big churches that still worship idols & still have all these laws & have to keep them to be saved?—Or are you New Testament Christians & all we have to do is believe in Jesus to be saved?" Which are you? (Fam: New Testament!)—New Testament Christians! Hallelujah!

63. WE BELONG TO THE NEW CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST‚ NOT THE OLD CHURCH! Praise God! Aren't you glad we can sit here in freedom, full of love, enjoy sex & have a wonderful time? PTL!—All of God's gifts‚ all of God's blessings, everything He's given us to enjoy in this World! Isn't that wonderful? Hallelujah! I like this kind of church‚ don't you? PTL! Well‚ we had a regular church meetin' here tonight! How about that? You're learning something, amen? I love you all!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family